The opposition continues regarding the appointment of former army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif as head of the Saudi-led military coalition.

Chief of Sunni Ittehad Council Sahibzada Hamid Raza said: “we ask the former army chief General Raheel Sharif to refrain from joining the controversial alliance.”

“Though it has been said by some of the officials that Iran and some other countries have been taken into confidence over the issue, but I believe that this decision of the Pakistan would have serious consequences for the country,” he viewed.

“As Pakistan getting closer to the military coalition, it can cause a gap between the country and other Islamic countries,” he added. “The alliance is being set up at the behest of Western powers.”

“As far as Raheel Sharif is concerned, we have always supported him as a brave army chief who became a hero for Pakistani nation after he led a military operation against terrorists, but if he goes against his actions and becomes a commander of controversial and sectarian coalition, the people of Pakistan won’t accept this and it would badly tarnish his image,” he said.

Sahibzada Hamid Raza stated that “such a move is not in the interest of Pakistan and not in the interest of the Islamic world. It will raise the problems in the Islamic world.”

“I don’t consider this alliance as an Islamic alliance. Major Islamic countries are not part of this alliance, countries that are at the forefront of the fight against terrorists, so how it can be an Islamic alliance against terrorism,” Sahibzada Hamid Raza asked.

“I strongly believe that this alliance is formed to pull Saudi Arabia out of the situation which it is facing after losing a war in Yemen, he said. “The Yemeni people taught Saudi aggression a good lesson.”

Pakistan well-known figures, political analysts, diplomats, and different religious and political parties strongly criticized the new move by Pakistan government to issue the NOC (No Objection Certificate) to former army chief General Raheel Sharif to assume the command of controversial Saudi-led military alliance.

Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Pakistan, Mehdi Honardoost, stated in an interview with that Tehran officially told Islamabad that Iran is concern over the new move by Pakistan government to issue the NOC to former army chief to assume the command of the military alliance.

Even though, Pakistan had contacted Iranian officials before issuing the no-objection certificate to Gen Sharif to lead the Saudi alliance, but that does not indicate that Iran is satisfied with this decision or it has accepted the same,”

Honardoost proposed that today, the region and the Islamic world need to form a “coalition of peace”.